Double Espresso Pacific Cup 2022

Hi everyone-
Well, we can happily say that we should finish today. We are under 90miles to the finish and sailing in 17-20kts with the spinnaker flying well. It's been flying for 4-5 days (we had a different one up last week).

The interesting thing is that we are now back in 3rd place in our division, so we still have a chance for a podium in our division. 4 of the 7 boats finished yesterday and the 3 of us should finish today. One boat is 8 miles behind and the other 70 miles.

We saved a few Mochi Balls from our half-way party and had a couple at 200miles and will finish the rest at lunch or maybe 50miles. They are still cold...

I wanted to thank all or our families & friends for keeping an eye out for us these 14 (long) days. Mark, Jason & I are still friends and still get along great even after all that time!! We picked the right team..BUT... don't think we are done. We have videos and pictures that we will upload at some point. NOT TONIGHT, we are saving that for hugs/kisses and some cocktails!!!

Aloha

Hi everyone-
Do you the feeling when you're almost there but not quite yet. Like the last hour of a long car drive or the last 15 minutes in the day before you can go home. Like that...

Well that's were we are at. We are so close but still a bit away. We had another really good 24hour run with the wind staying steady and not too windy. We churned out the miles. Overnight had more squalls (big winds) followed by some lighter breezes. We made it through just fine and after sending in our position to Race Management, set about the next vitally important task.. Coffee.. Jason has the watch for sunrise and is enjoying it with his double espresso.

One fun event was around 1:30am Jason was on watch, Mark & John sleeping when our radio crackled to life.. "Double Espresso, Double Espresso, this is the cargo ship

Hi everyone-
We had an exciting evening/night. Just as we were settling into our night routine, I was driving the boat (some time before midnight) when a we got caught by a squall. The winds jumped to 25+kts and the waves seemed very confused. I called for an "all-hands on deck" and kept the boat as controlled as possible. We were easily hitting 10-12 knots of boat speed at times and any screw up was going to be bad. Together we all made the CHOICE to get the spinnaker down and sail with the jib. Some might say that's chickening out, but for us it's boat & body safety.

The three of us sprung into action and (with the help a very thoughtfully added mast/bow light) got the jib up & brought the spinnaker down followed by cleaning up lines that were everywhere. We did it like a true team and worked super well together. It seems like we are getting too much practice..

Even with just a jib instead of the spinnaker, we were hitting speeds of 8-9kts at times. The waves seemed to be all over and we were able to manage through the night in our normal watch. This allowed the off-watch folks the ability to sleep/nap. We probably got rolled over by 5 or 6 (4 during my watches lucky me) more squalls which saw wind spikes of 25kts. At some point 3-6am?? the winds lighted, but we waiting until daybreak to re-launch the spinnaker. We are back under way in 17-20kts still charging for the finish line.

Although that probably cost us 20-30 miles of distance traveled, we agree that it was the better choice for us! We & the boat are in great working order. There has already been enough carnage among many of the other boats and we do not want to add ourselves to that list.

So, what did you all do for your Saturday night..

Bye

Hi everyone -

I am completely out of stuff to talk about.. fat chance..

We completed what we hope is our last gybe and we are pointing 220-230 compass heading to the finish line. The wind gods were feeling helpful and just as we began our gybe process (with a lot of talking through who's doing when and when) the wind speed dropped from 20kts to 14kts. We did the gybe and within 10 minutes the winds were back up at the 18-20kts. Whew! chaos averted (read yesterday's blog and fleet newsletter on PacCup website if you want to learn what others had go wrong)...

So far [KNOCK ON WOOD] the boat and the three of us are holding together well. We work well together and haven't gotten on each other's nerves. In fact the opposite, we have all been trying our best to accommodate each other and help where we can. The boat has been rock solid so far. We've had a few minor issues which we fixed with our spares.. Preparation was extensive but it seems to be paying dividends.

With all that said.. countdowns. I mean what else do you talk about after 10+days.. We sailed our last Friday, we passed 700 miles to go [100 hours left - which is some PacCup milestone]. 3 pre-made dinners left & 3 nights left (coincidence?? more on that in moment..). Although we are not yet in helicopter range, we have enough gas to motor almost to the yacht club/finish line but certainly to get help if everything fell apart [WHICH it WILL NOT!!!!]. I would list the # of watches left but that's still a depressing number. And as of this post, we have 605 miles left to sail.

Now the guessing game.. When do we finish. Race Management says Wednesday 8am. one computer model says Tuesday midnight. another model says Tuesday at 4pm and our fearless skipper (Jason) has picked Tuesday at 2pm. Mark & I like Jason's choice and are doing our best to help make that the reality. We just don't like Race Management's guess. NOW THE CHALLENGE: we have to sail at 7.5 kts every hour from yesterday ~8pm to the finish. Through the night we averaged 7.1kts so we are behind. Some hours we are hitting 8+kts and seeing 9kts & 10kts at times. The big wildcard is (of course) the wind. Last night we saw several hours of light winds so we need those cooperative wind gods to participate. We are still 3-4 days away so a lot can happen..

Let's first see what the next 24 hours bring...

Bye

Hi everyone-
It was an early morning today as we completed our 2nd gybe and are lined up for the finish line just under 800miles away. In the PacCup, as you near Hawaii, you need to decide when to perform your gybe to the finish. If you do it too soon, then you might have to do multiple gybes as you get near the finish. Conversely, if you wait too long then you might have to sail (potentially) upwind to the finish.

We gybed late evening last night for the run back towards the Rhumb Line planning on the 2nd gybe at first light. The three of us were on deck with a full moon waiting the last 10 minutes before the sky lightened completely as the sun peeked out. Once it arrived, we went into action and performed the gybe. What is a gybe you asked (I am sure someone did...): a gybe is when you turn the boat while sailing downwind. You turn around the wind instead of turning through the wind which is called tacking. It is the fasted way to change direction when you are sailing downwind. It can be much more challenging as the main & spinnaker both go from wind on one side to wind on the other side. If done well, it's pretty seamless and doesn't take much time. When done wrong.. oh boy.. Needless to say, for us it went really well and now we're moving on the other things.. coffee, breakfast, other boat duties (in that order for me!)

I'll find out in our morning Race Committee report if any other boats in our division gybed or not (by the coordinates.. yes, I have to plot each boat's position relative to ours). So now, its a drag race for us so for the next 3-4 days as we stay on the same tack and do our best to sail fast.

Bye

Hi everyone-
Well, another day in the books and in the past 24 hours it's looking like we sailed 164 miles (just missing an average of 7kts per hour). we are basically in the Trade Winds so we should have fairly consistent wind from here to the finish. The last 2 days have seen weaker wind in the morning (happening again today) and at times during the night. By lunch time we get the strongest winds for the whole afternoon and evening.

I am looking forward to my shifts during this time. Its a lot of fun sailing downwind with the ocean waves. Our angle is pretty close to the same direction as the waves and when done properly, you can get the boat to "surf" the wave which accelerates the boat (9-10kts) down the face of the wave with water being pushed off both sides.

Marine life: Mark caught a fish yesterday (although technically not even fishing).. We've seen several flying fish. They pop out of the water and flap their wings soaring for 30+ yards before dropping back into the water. For Mark it popped out of the water and tried to land in his lap ending up at his feet. I am sure he was thinking "sushi" but probably because he didn't have enough to share, decided to throw the little guy back in the ocean.

Now to the 'Chutes & Ladders'.. Remember that game? It's where you sometimes go forward (up ladders) and sometimes go backwards (down chutes). Well that's sort of how our division of boats have been with regards to positions. After several days near the top of our division, we saw last afternoon that we dropped to 6th of 7th. I'm not going to lie, it was a blow and a bit disheartening. We felt we were making pretty good speed and sailing more directly to Hawaii than our competitors. The only way we get to "see" our competition is through the position reports as we see NOTHING on the horizon all around us. Even AIS is not showing up either because they have turned it off or they are just too far for it to see. Oh yeah, we don't have access to the internet to use the YB Traker website either..
Then this morning the updated fleet position report was sent and we are back in 2nd place. huh?? what?? Our top two assumptions: #1 Race Management just randomly chooses who's closest using whatever method they like (& want to mess with the sailors by randomly changing things up) OR #2 we are all really just that close, maybe "too close to call", even after 8 days of sailing. Either way, we are excited to even be in the mix. We are certainly going to do our best, and just looking forward to getting to the finish.

Top of mind thinking: what's more enticing at this time? Mai Tai at the finish or a hot shower?? Hmm, I'll need to think about that..

Bye